LITMIR.BIZ

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voice of an old woman. “What are you standing there talking about, Elsie? With all those peaches waiting to be pared!”

      All eyes turned naturally towards the old staircase, from which the sound of the voice was coming. Miss Grant slowly descended, holding her hand on her right side and grunting to herself as if the act of walking were painful to her. She was a woman of at least sixty-five, thin and wrinkled, but with little sharp black beady eyes that seemed to peer into everything suspiciously, as if she believed the whole world evil. She was wearing an old-fashioned black dress, and a dark shawl about her shoulders.

      “These girls have found your kitten, Aunt Mattie,” Elsie informed her. “They rescued her from a tree.”

      The black eyes softened, and the old woman came towards the girls.

      “My precious little Puffy!” she exclaimed, as one might talk to a baby. Then her tone abruptly became harsh again as she turned to her niece.

      “Go back to your work, Elsie!” she ordered gruffly. “I’ll attend to this!”

      Without any reply the girl slunk away to the kitchen, and Miss Grant took the kitten from Jane.

      “Tell me what happened to my poor little pet,” she said.

      Briefly Jane repeated the story, with an emphasis upon Mary Louise’s prowess in climbing trees.

      Apparently the old lady was touched.

      “I must say that was good of you,” she remarked. “Not a bit like what most young people nowadays would do! All they seem to enjoy is torturing poor helpless creatures!”

      She put the kitten down on the floor and turned towards the stairs.

      “You wait!” she commanded the girls, “I’m going to get you a reward for this!”

      “Oh, no, Miss Grant!” they both protested instantly, and Mary Louise went on to explain that they were Girl Scouts and never accepted money for good turns. (Even Silky knows better than that, she added to herself. He won’t expect a bone for rescuing Pussy – only a pat on the head!)

      “You really mean that?” demanded Miss Grant, in obvious relief. She would save two cents! She had meant to give each girl a whole penny!

      “Tell me your names, then,” she continued, “and where you live. I might want to call on you for help sometime. I can’t trust my niece as far as my nose, and my servants are both old.” Mary Louise chuckled. So there was a mystery in this house! A lurking danger that Miss Grant and her niece both feared! And she and Jane were being drawn into it.

      “Jane Patterson and Mary Louise Gay,” she replied. “We live over in Riverside, next to the high school. You can get us on the phone.”

      “I haven’t a telephone. Too expensive. Besides, if I had one, I couldn’t tell what deviltry Elsie might be up to… No, I don’t hold with these modern inventions.”

      “Well, you could send Elsie for us if you need any help,” suggested Jane. “It’s only a little over a mile. You see, Mary Louise’s father is a detective on the police force, and we’re both interested in mysteries.”

      “I’m not thinking of any mystery,” snapped Miss Grant. “What I’m thinking of is facts. One fact is that I’ve got a pack of scheming relations who are trying to send me off to the hospital for an operation while they loot my house.”

      Mary Louise’s forehead wrinkled in surprise.

      “I didn’t know you had any relations besides your niece,” she said.

      “Certainly I have. Haven’t you ever heard of the Grants in Riverside? Mrs. Grace Grant – a woman about my age? She has two grown sons and a married daughter. Well, they spent all their money, and now they want mine. But they’re not going to get it!”

      Her hand went to her side again, as if she were in pain, and Mary Louise decided it was time for them to go.

      “Well, good-bye, Miss Grant,” she said. “And don’t forget to call on us if you want help.”

      It was a relief to be out in the bright sunlight again, away from the gloom and the decay of that ugly house. Mary Louise took a deep breath and whistled for Silky. He was waiting at the foot of the porch steps.

      As they walked down the path they were startled by a rustle in one of the cedar trees. Silky perked up his ears and went to investigate the disturbance. In another moment a head peered cautiously through the branches. It was Elsie Grant.

      “Will you come over here and talk to me a little while?” she whispered, as if she were afraid of being caught. “I never see any girls my own age – and – you look so nice!”

      Both Mary Louise and Jane were touched by the loneliness of this poor unhappy orphan. They went gladly to her side.

      “Don’t you go to school?” asked Mary Louise. “I mean – when it isn’t vacation time?”

      The girl shook her head.

      “That must be awful!” exclaimed Jane. “Sometimes I hate school, but I’d certainly hate worse never to go. How old are you?”

      “I’m only fifteen,” replied Elsie. “But it seems as if I were fifty. I mean – the time is so long. Yet I’ve really only lived here with Aunt Mattie two years.”

      “And didn’t you ever go to school?” questioned Mary Louise. She couldn’t believe that, for the girl spoke beautiful English.

      “Oh, yes – before I came here. I was just ready to enter high school when mother died – only a couple of months after my father was killed in an accident. He was Aunt Mattie’s youngest brother. And he didn’t leave any money, so I had to come and live with her.”

      “But I can’t see why she doesn’t send you to school,” protested Jane. “It’s a public high school. It wouldn’t cost her anything.”

      “Yes, it would, because I haven’t any clothes except these old things of hers. I can’t go anywhere – I’m too ashamed.”

      Mary Louise’s eyes gleamed with indignation.

      “That’s terrible!” she cried. “We can report her – ”

      Elsie shook her head.

      “No, you couldn’t. Because she feeds me well enough and gives me clothing that is clean, and warm enough in winter. No, there isn’t a thing anybody can do. Except wait until I’m old enough to work in somebody’s kitchen.”

      “No!” protested Jane.

      “But I thought if I could just see you two girls once in a while and talk to you, life wouldn’t seem so bad. If I could call you by your first names – ”

      “Of course you can,” Mary Louise assured her, and she told Elsie their names. “We’ll come over often. And I don’t believe your aunt will object, because she seems to like us.”

      “She loves that kitten,” explained Elsie. “It’s the only thing in the world she does love, besides money.”

      “She mentioned her money,” remarked Jane, “and told us that she believed her relatives were trying to get it away from her.”

      “By the way,” said Mary Louise, “you started to tell us about something that happened here two nights ago. Remember? What was it?”

      Elsie shivered, as though the memory of it were still painful to her.

      “I sleep up in the attic, all by myself. And I hear the most awful noises all night. I’m always scared to death to go to bed.”

      “Don’t the servants sleep there too?” asked Mary Louise. She was anxious to get her facts straight from the beginning.

      “No. They sleep on the second floor, in a room over the kitchen. There are just two of them – an old married couple named Hannah and William Groben.

      “Well, night before last I heard more distinct noises than ever. First I thought it was one of the trees near my window,

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